Friday, September 20, 2024

Not a Kicker - I've Got a Cracked Trainline! (figuratively)

Here's me working on my 'drone project'. My short blogging hiatus continues but my enthusiasm for preserving railway history continues! I am (getting on the way to being) reinvigorated! Here's the whole neighbourhood watching me and they are like: ' ... So you really like trains, eh? ... ... '

I guess you could say I'm becoming a kind of  'thought leader' around here!

To start off, I'm setting the goal of droning over each individual VIA Lumi trainset. I'll bet no one else is doing that. 

And I've got some tricks up my sleeve. If I only get a shot of the Lumi set tailend ... I'll use 'Artificial Information (AI) red eye correction' ... and then I've got the headend! 

Kingston railfan colleague AVP once left our usual scanner-equipped after-work railfan gaggle at the station when the night was still young. Back then, F-units and the 'blue series' coaches were still around. With a smile and a dismissive wave of his hand he referred to a new, purring LRC trainset and said ...

'When you've seen one ... you've seen them all!' 

Well, AVP said that having never seen a Lumi !

from: Canada, A History in Photographs; Hall & Dodds; 1981, Hurtig.

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I'm a big fan of Brockville Railfan and watch his videos almost daily. I generally 'like' every railway video I watch - I get mine from a few different continents. In BR's case, the train details are conscientiously documented and the camera technique is of consistently high quality. I really appreciate the extra care that goes into videos like these. 

The drone work people are doing these days is fabulous, but I'm usually more interested in operations and observing car spring compression and reading placards ... than beautiful, soaring images which dramatically show the fascinating interplay between train dynamics and geography. However ... drones are great for checking the contents of bathtub gons!

I've never hurt my finger while doing a 'like' of appreciation for all the work these people do ... but maybe others have? 

... Looking at Brockville ... every summer I think: They'll be here to do some old-timey 'lining and surfacing' before the snow flies ... How much more can units and passenger consists bounce without getting into problems? 

What is this bad trackwork doing to VIA's high speed ... high frequency ... train operation business?

... But now! Finally they're doing something! A screen cap from a recent BR video appears below.

from: Quebec 1850-1950; Lionel Koffler; 2005; Firefly.

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Taking a break from blogging, I'm finding there's more time 
to catch up on grooming and personal care - as you can see below.
Always remember this helpful maxim: 'The best barber in a town has the worst hair cut.'
from: Vanishing Canada; Rick Butler; 1980; Clarke Irwin & Co.

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Selfie of me enjoying my rest from the blog. 
This is pretty relaxing. I'm going to see if there's a computer-based version of this game.

After posting ... Sep 20 ... big news!

I'm setting up a Twitch channel and I'll be livestreaming my solitaire computer gaming. I'll need mods so stay tuned to volunteer ... 

Also, I'm setting up a Discord server so my fans can chat while they watch me play.

If this works out, my ambition is to set up a solitaire league for team play. Like an FP Shooter game (eg. Tour of Fortune), but playing solitaire.

from: Vanishing Canada; Rick Butler; 1980; Clarke Irwin & Co.

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Waiting for the air to come back.
 I'm taking a couple of weeks off ...
from: The Railroad Caboose; William F Knapke; 1968; Golden West Books.